The Support Ate it All

In the end, Dang Gyu-young gave in to my persuasion, pulled out a D-rank crystal, and activated the summoning gate.

The monster that soon walked out was one we had seen several times over the past few days.

Clatter.

It was a skeleton knight.

Probably around number eight.

Among all the D-rank monsters we had summoned so far, it was practically the weakest.

Even Hong Yeon-hwa could burn it to ashes in no time, so with Dang Gyu-young’s skills, it would likely be reduced to dust in just a hit or two.

Of course, that was assuming there were no penalties.

With the Hardship Quest restrictions in place, it wouldn’t be as easy as usual.

Soon, the hollow eyes of the skeleton knight turned toward Dang Gyu-young.

And with its bone shield raised in front, it began to steadily advance.

“…….”

Dang Gyu-young watched it with eyes that showed not even a hint of tension, then lightly waved her hand in the air.

[Butterfly Flight]

A shadow butterfly fluttered up from beneath the monster’s feet.

Normally, it would have circled lightly in the air before either exploding or transforming into another weapon and flying at the target. But this time, the butterfly merely flapped weakly and was blocked by the skeleton knight’s shield.

Smack.

“…I’m seriously going on strike.”

Dang Gyu-young grumbled but cast shadow magic again.

This time, perhaps trying a different method, she formed a long shadow club and gripped it in her hand.

And the moment the skeleton knight entered striking distance, she swung it with all her strength.

The skeleton knight immediately raised its shield to block the attack.

If it had been under normal circumstances, Dang Gyu-young’s skills would’ve been more than enough to blow the shield away along with its wielder. But once again, the penalty was the issue.

As the shadow club was being swung, it bent in the opposite direction.

“What the—”

Thunk.

The sound that rang out when the club hit the shield was far too weak to be considered a proper impact.

Right after, the skeleton knight counterattacked by swinging its bone sword, and Dang Gyu-young lightly kicked off the ground to create some distance.

“Wow, this is seriously pissing me off. Against this thing?”

A third-year club president could wipe out dozens of D-rank monsters in an instant, but here she was, struggling to take down just one.

It must’ve felt like trying to kill a goblin that just wouldn’t die.

After that, Dang Gyu-young tried creating several more weapons.

But just like the butterfly, the shadow dagger dissipated mid-air without doing anything, and the hammer and longsword bent out of shape like the club.

And with each failure, her frustration only grew.

Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore. She rushed into the skeleton knight’s guard and threw a punch.

Boom—!

She shattered its skull in a single blow.

“Ugh, this is so irritating.”

Dang Gyu-young fanned her hand in frustration.

Needless to say, she probably hadn’t fulfilled the Hardship Quest condition.

After all, she didn’t defeat it using shadow magic.

Watching from the side, I asked her something I had been wondering.

“You’ve got a few instant-cast skills too, right? Would’ve been easy to land a hit.”

“What’s the point of killing it quickly? It’s still a pain either way.”

Dang Gyu-young responded in a nonchalant tone.

If she had wanted to, she could have used skills like Shadow Thorn, the kind that attacked from beneath the target’s feet.

Since the activation time was extremely short, she would have been able to deal damage before the form broke down.

But even if she cleared stage 5 quickly that way, stage 6 or 7 would just throw stronger monsters at her, and she’d be struggling all the same.

In that case, she figured she might as well do it properly from the start.

Besides, there was still plenty of time before the next cooldown, so there was no need to rush.

I felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.

“You say you’re on strike, but you’re working pretty hard. I like it.”

“If it were up to me, I’d quit right now. But what can I do….I said I’d do this. You really need to appreciate how much I’m putting myself through.”

“Of course I do.”

“No, no—you need to appreciate it more, and be nicer to me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Dang Gyu-young gave me a sideways glare for a moment, then gestured toward the summoning gate.

“For now, it’s better if I go without that thing, right?”

“Looks that way.”

The objective for stage 5 of the Hardship Quest was to defeat a D-rank monster using a shadow weapon.

Breaking it down further, it meant “shaping the shadow into a combat-ready form” and “maintaining the shadow during battle”.

Meanwhile, the best Gyu-young could do with her shadow was to form and sustain basic shapes, and she was trying to hit both targets at once.

It was only natural she struggled against the skeleton knight.

So rather than clearing the quest like it was a real fight from the start, she had decided to tackle the first goal. That was “maintaining the shadow in weapon form”.

It made perfect sense, so I nodded my head.

Then I asked her a question, half-joking.

“Mind if I mess around too? Nice breeze every now and then.”

“If you do, I’m turning you into a skeleton knight.”

Dang Gyu-young’s tone was firm beyond question.

***

And once again, a few days passed just like that.

The only thing that had changed was that Dang Gyu-young’s shadow creations had shifted from simple cones to things like butterflies and daggers.

And perhaps the fact that Hong Yeon-hwa was now conducting her mentoring while also progressing through the Hardship quest.

Fwoooosh—

The pillar of flame that had burst forth began to sway from side to side, and something like a snake seemed to slither within it.

Soon, the flame serpent spewed a fireball at skeleton knight No. 14,

Boom!

Just like its predecessors, No. 14 was consumed in vain by the fire.

Leaving behind nothing but ashes and a buff.

[Your skill/trait growth speed has greatly increased.]

A rank boost buff, as usual.

But this time, an additional notification appeared.

[Accumulative kill reward granted.]

Apparently, a certain number of summoned monsters had been defeated.

Pulling up the mentoring quest again revealed the following:

[Event: Second Mentoring] (In progress…)

[Time remaining: 21 days]

▷ Grow faster with the help of a mentor.

▷ D-rank monsters defeated: 50

▷ C-rank monsters defeated: 4

▷ B-rank monsters defeated: 0

▷Rewards given for defeating a set number of monsters

So it really was 50 kills.

The first reward threshold was 50 kills, based on D-rank monsters.

C-ranks counted as two or three per kill.

Just as predicted, the reward was a defense-type skill.

[You have acquired ‘Wind Armor (F+)’.]

As the name suggested, it was a spell that cloaked the body in wind-like armor.

Compared to barrier-type spells, it took up less space and allowed for more mobility, but the thin layer of wind meant its defensive power was somewhat lacking.

Of course, since the two could be layered together, the comparison didn’t hold much weight.

Well, I’ve learned two decent ones for now.

Both [Wind Barrier] and [Wind Armor] simply increased defense and nothing more.

Considering Hong Yeon-hwa’s [Reverse Curtain] automatically counterattacked, and [Blazing Armor] boosted fire damage, they felt a bit plain by comparison.

Of course, this isn’t the end.

Just like with [Spiral Explosion], the final effect of a skill depended entirely on how it was combined with others.

For the third and final skill, a very special one was being kept in mind.

Though, of course, that would only be learned after school started again.

For now, it’s best to strengthen what I already have.

Ranking up was something that had to be done eventually anyway.

The more I got done now, the more resources I could allocate elsewhere later on.

With that in mind, I gave Hong Yeon-hwa a signal with my eyes, and we resumed the sparring session we had briefly paused.

I cast Wind Barrier and Wind Armor in quick succession.

Whoooosh—

One layer of wind wrapped around my body, while the other formed a circular shield in the air around me.

Then, as I walked among the pillars of flame, the fire serpents relentlessly launched fireballs at me.

Boom boom boom!

***

After finishing that day’s training, we were resting in our dorm when Dang Gu-young called us over.

“Hey, you two. Come here for a moment.”

She looked between Hong Yeon-hwa and me before speaking.

“Let’s go out tomorrow.”

“Is something up?”

“Mhmm, we need to get more crystals.”

Although Dang Gu-young had received permission to use the crystals as a mentor, there was still a limit on how many she could use.

No matter how much of a third-year she was, she was still just a student. Who would trust her with hundreds of them?

What if she suddenly had a change of heart? Who knows what could happen?

“So I initially brought about sixty, but there aren’t many left now.”

Since we had poured almost all of our time into training, except for when we ate and slept, they had been used up faster than expected.

As soon as the buff ended, we summoned another one and defeated it, then summoned again once the next buff ended. Like that, we had taken down more than fifty in just a little more than a week.

“We’ve got some B-ranks left, but as you know, it’s not really the right time to use them.”

“Because the penalty is still in effect.”

Dang Gu-young’s fighting power had been severely reduced due to the Hardship quest.

She couldn’t even take down a skeleton knight now. If we summoned a B-rank monster, there’d be no way to handle it.

Realistically, I would have to fight it alone.

I could probably manage, but there’s no reason to push myself.

It’s not like they dropped any items. At most, the buffs were a bit better.

There wasn’t enough benefit to risk the danger.

It seemed better to wait until the latter half of our mentoring period, when both of their [Hardships] entered their final stages, to start summoning B-ranks.

So everyone agreed with the plan to replenish the lower-rank crystals.

Of course, since we’d fought enough D-ranks, we would now focus mainly on C-ranks.

With a sigh, Dang Gu-young added,

“Phew… and let’s take a break. We’ve been pushing ourselves too hard lately.”

As soon as those words were said, both Dang Gu-young and Hong Yeon-hwa turned their gazes toward me. It was because I was the very reason things had been so intense lately.

I asked Hong Yeon-hwa with a stiff face.

“Tired?”

“……”

Her pupils darted around, searching for a place to rest.

She kept hesitating, probably thinking that answering wrong would lead to consequences she couldn’t handle.

Seeing that, Dang Gu-young smacked my shoulder with a slap.

“Why are you staring at her like that? She can’t even speak!”

“Was I?”

“Yes! Save that kind of pressure for me.”

I relaxed my facial muscles and asked the same question again, this time in a gentler tone.

“Should we take it easy tomorrow?”

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes were still shifting as if trying to figure out whether it was a trap. But with a subtle look from Dang Gu-young, she seemed encouraged and gave a small nod.

She must have been struggling more than she let on.

Honestly, even doing just the Hardship quest was tough, and she had been keeping up with my pace on top of that for all the training.

“It really would be best to take a break around now.”

“Mhmm, let’s pick up the crystals, walk around a bit, and maybe grab something to eat.”